1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a portable, anti-theft brake pedal locking device for motor vehicles, a device that encompasses an additional barrier to clutch operation when a clutch is present, this device being suitable for manual as well as automatic transmission systems. Specifically, the invention incorporates a system that prevents the brake/clutch pedal(s) from being depressed.
2. Prior Art
Patents have been issued on anti-theft devices since the inception of the motor vehicle for transportation. Some of these inventions have been less than credible. More usually, the inventions have been impractical, could be defeated without great effort, and in some cases hazardous when put into use. In all cases portable anti-theft devices should be: maximally secure; user friendly; light in weight; easily stored; universal as to employment; designed to be efficiently manufactured; reasonable in cost; and visible. Prior art anti-theft inventive solutions have failed in one or more parts to equal the foregoing condition.
Inventions incorporating steering wheel and steering wheel to brake/clutch pedal(s) locking have been patented. Such devices are not secure due to the fact that they are easily defeated by the simple act of cutting the wheel rim. (By reason of safety, a steering wheel rim should not be fabricated of hardened metal, in that malleability of its fabrication offers some protection to the driver in case of impact.) Usually, these devices are also complicated to install and difficult to be stored.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,856,308, Aug. 15, 1989, Johnson, discloses an elongated body member incorporating hooking means, lockable to a steering wheel, preventing its easily being turned.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,704,233, Jan. 6, 1998, Farshad, discloses a rod member, extending from a brake pedal catch member to a steering wheel catch member, lockable and thereby preventing operation of either steering wheel or brake pedal.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,653,133, Aug. 5, 1997, Passantino, discloses a connection between a steering wheel and brake pedal of a most complex character.
Other anti-theft devices are either wholly or in part permanently installed on the vehicle. Damage to the vehicle can be incurred through such installations; these installations are always expensive; hazards to the occupants are at times introduced; inconvenience in almost every case is increased; and the disabling of such devices is sometimes accomplished by the removal of a single connector. These devices are also not compatible to many vehicles.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,263,345, Nov. 23, 1993, Zagorac, discloses a cable extending between a lockable safety-brake lever, connected to a floor member beneath the operator pedals, activated by the engagement of the safety-brake lever.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,040,387, Aug. 20, 1991, Knott, Jr., discloses an assembly between a lockable means and an engaging cable, extending to an apparatus that extends upwardly through the floorboard under a brake pedal, designed to clasp the pedal in a depressed position when the system is activated.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,934,492, Jun. 19, 1990, Hayes-Sheen, discloses a hydraulic brake locking system, activated by turning off the ignition switch, and maintaining the brake in a locked position until the system is deactivated.
Electronic anti-theft systems suffer from being expensive installations; from being readily defeated by any knowledgeable person; by being an insecure means of protection when a vehicle is parked or stored at some remote location. Backpackers, hunters, fishermen, bird watchers and skiers, who will often park a vehicle at the end of some roadway, gain little protection from such electronic means. By the time such persons return to their vehicles ample time has expired to fully disable even electronic locator systems.